QT Zephaniah 2:4-15

December 3, 2015

The dangers of pride… "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6

In today’s QT, God promises to destroy those proud nations because of their pride. I thought a lot about what it means to be humble yesterday, and looked at a lot of definitions, and reflected on some experiences, and what other Christians thought. Couple new things were brought to light. One of them is that part of being humble is being okay with not getting attention for something I have done. It is at these times that God promises grace. There are other graces for other times, but he goes out of his way to promise grace for these times. It’s not the grace that I’m after, but it’s something to think about.

Another thing about being humble is that it’s not just about me and whether or not I’m being prideful or not, but it’s also about what others might perceive as being prideful. This is too bad that it’s this way, but I can say things without pride that might come off to someone as being prideful. This can stir up jealousy in others that does no one any good. This is the scary and something to be extra cautious about.

Today in morning prayer, after going without sleeping, as I had to do perform some server upgrades for my business overnight, I felt many things from God. I don’t know how I so easily lose thankfulness of everything. It’s so absurd. I mean I live by grace each and every day. My situation kind of thankfully forces me, and even without my situations, life in itself is held by the thinnest weakest string that could snap at any moment. On top of this, I’m being blessed in so many ways. Yet, I find myself ungrateful, and taking everything for granted. This is like so upsetting to God, I know this, because this kind of behavior upsets me too when other people take me for granted. As if I’m doing anything on my own.

So thankful right now for everything, yet I’m going to forget when I go to sleep, and wake up. It’s unbelievable. I suppose this is a blessing too.

I’ve thinking about taking a picture, or drawing/painting something, and I didn’t know what to take a picture of or to draw/paint, but something has come up. Something that captures how my life is hanging by the thinnest thread that will remind me every day I live by His grace and His grace alone. That I have to be humble. That I have to be thankful.

Application: read this QT again after I wake up, read random chapter of Psalms before eating lunch, think more about the picture or painting throughout the day